Iron



1943 G. E. PRICE 2,337,836

- IRON Filed Aug. 17, 19 0 WITNESSES: f .ngvENToR Georye E. Price.

Patented Dec. 28, 1943 1 IRON George E. Price, Mansfield, Ohio, assignorto Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company, East Pittsburgh, Pa.,a corporation of Pennsylvania Application August 1'1, 1940, Serial No.353,023

' 1 Claim. (01. 219-25) My invention relates to sadirons and, moreparticularly to the thermostatic control of such devices.

The thermal responsive elements of the thermostats used in selectivelycontrolling the operating temperatures of portable irons, now known tothe art, are positioned within the sole, plate of such iron so as to beresponsive to .the temperature thereof. In addition to this, suchthermostats well known to the art have numerous ingenious methods foranticipating or approximating the temperature of the exterior or ironingsurface of the sole plate so that an operator may selectively determinethe ironing temperatur of the iron structure. All these well known andestablished methods of determining and maintaining a selectedtemperature'of the ironing surface have been approximations and in nocases known to the art has there been a successful method of having thethermal responsive element of the thermostat actually responsive totemperature of the exterior surface of the sole plate or to thetemperature of the material being ironed. This type of control isconsidered the ideal which all the heretofore ingenious structures havebeen attempting to approximate.

In contrast with the ingenious structures now known to the art for onlyapproximating the temperature of the exterior or working surface of thesadiron, I have found and perfected a simple, positive actingthermostatic structure for an iron, the thermal responsive element ofwhich is located within or is a part of the working surface of the ironso as to be responsive to the actual temperaof the material beingironed.

the sole plate with at-least a part of such bulb in the plane of thesmoothing or ironing surface of the sole plate.

Other objects of my invention will either be pointed out specifically inthe course of the following description of a device embodying myinvention, or will be apparent from such description.

In the accompanying drawing:

Figure 1 is a partial elevational and sectional view of a sadironembodying my invention;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line II-II of Fig. 1

It is therefore an object of my invention to provide a thermostaticstructure for a sadiron' having athermal responsive element thereforpositioned within the working surface of the iron so as to be responsiveto the temperature thereof and to the temperature of the material beingironed.

A further object of my invention is to providestatic control, the bulbof which is placed within Referring to the accompanying drawing, inwhich like reference characters indicate like parts in the severalfigures, I show an iron 10 comprising a sole plate l2, a heating elementIt positioned therein for supplying heat thereto, and a thermostaticstructure l6 associated therewith for maintaining a predeterminedselective temperature of such sole plate, said thermostatic structurehaving a thermal responsive element 18 positioned within the sole plateI! and operatively associated with the thermostat to operate it, and anadjusting knob 20 for selectively determining the temperature at whichthe thermostat will operate.

The iron structure l0 illustrated in the accompanying drawing maybe ofany desired configuration or arrangement. However, the sole plate l2thereof has a relatively thin central portion and a suitable slot or.aperture l3 or its equivalent preferably within this central portiontopermit a thermal responsive element Hi to be positioned therein, ashereinafter more fully described.

The heating element I4 illustrated in Fig. 2 is positioned within apreformed slot within the inner face of sol plate l2 and comprises aresistor 22 insulated from the sole plate 12 by means of a suitablecompacted insulating material 24.- This heating element is more clearlydescribed and claimed in a copending application, Serial No. 234,628,filed October 12,4938 and assigned to'the assignee of this invention.However, it is to be understood that any other suitable heating elementmay be used in lieu thereof.

a sadiron structure having a hydraulic thermo- The thermostaticstructure It illustrated in- Fig. 1 is of a familiar type'and comprisesany suitable arrangement or mechanism which will be responsive to theactions of the thermal responsive element l8 and which is capable ofselectively energizing and deenergizing the heat-W.

ing element It, in a well known manner. The thermostatic structure Ithas an upstanding adjusting shaft 26 which passes through the uppercover plate 28 of the iron structure "I for retaining the adjusting knob20 upon the upper end thereof. The adjusting knob 20 thus, through theaction of the adjusting shaft 26, is adapted to selectively determinethe temperature at which the thermostat IE will operate to energize anddeenergize the heating element I4, in a well known manner.

The thermal responsive element I8 is, in this instance, an elongatedbulb-type element having a fluid, such as chlorinated diphenyl, forexample, therein which will preferably expand uniformly over the entiretemperature range of the sole plate for operating the thermostat IS. Thebulblike element '18 is connected to the thermostatic structure l6 bymeans of any suitable capillary tube 30, or the like, as is customary,so that minute variations in pressure within the, thermal responsivebulb l8 will be transmitted to the thermostatic structure 16 so as tooperate such structure, in a'well known manner (not shown) in responseto the changes in temperature in the sole plate l2 or in the materialwhich is being ironed, as hereinafter described.

It will be" noted in Fig. 2 that the bulb-like and it is to beunderstood that, such exposed portion of the bulb I8 may be flattened toincrease the area thereof, which is in the plane of the ironing surface.It therefore follows that the bulb I8 is responsive to the temperatureof the ironing surface of the sole plate I2, which surrounds it, andalso to the temperature of the material which is bein ironed or to thematerial which the bulb l8 rests against while the iron is being used ina normal manner. Accordingly,

it follows that the bulb l8 being associated with the thermostat l6through capillary tube 30 operates the thermostat IS in response to thechanges in temperature of the material being ironed as well as thetemperature of the surface of the sole plate l2.

It is therefore obvious that the structure embodying my inventionprovides an iron having a sole plate with a working surface thereon, aheating element in thermal communication therewith and a variable orselectively adjustable thermostat for maintaining a desired temperatureof the sole plate by means of a thermal responsive element exposedwithin the working surface of the sole plate so as to be responsive tothe temperature thereof, as well as to the temperature of material beingironed. I

Various modifications may be made in the device embodying my inventionwithout departing from the spirit and scopethereof, and I desire,therefore,. that only such limitations shall be placed thereon as areimposed by the prior art and'the appended claim.

I claim as my invention:

In a smoothing device for ironing cloth-like A .material having a soleplate with an ironing surface thereon, a heating element for heatingsuch sole plate and ironing surface and an adjustable thermostat forcontrolling the energization of the heating element, the combination ofan expan-

